Ontario to fund more private clinic surgeries, send patients to temporary LTCs

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones’s plan to stabilize the health-care system includes increasing surgeries performed at private clinics but covered by OHIP, covering the exam and registration fees for internationally trained nurses, and sending patients waiting for a long-term care bed to a home not of their choosing.

The plan comes as nursing staff shortages have seen emergency departments across the province close throughout the summer for hours or days at a time.

On long-term care, the government plans to introduce legislation today that will allow patients awaiting a bed to be transferred to a “temporary” home while they await space in